Old Hansa House of Antwerp (The Dockers' Museum, object nr. 3)
Print, 31,3 x 38,1 cm.
Materials: ink, paper
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. DM03).
Anon., Old Hansa House of Antwerp [Title given by Allan Sekula], engraving, black-and-white print on paper, reproduced in the Latin edition of Lodovico Giucciardini, Descrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi, altrimenti detti Germania inferiore, first published in 1567, 31,5 x 38 cm. Purchased by Allan Sekula through eBay on 21 April 2010, with the production date of 1631 mentioned in the sales documents [1631 being the date of the first Lation publication of Giucciardini's book]. [Allan Sekula – The Dockers' Museum, 2010-2013]
The oldest print from the three prints form the British Press (DM01-02-03), probably from the eighteenth century and it’s depicting the old Hansa House in Antwerp. It is a frontal view of this house which is destroyed by fire. It has a Latin inscription that says ‘the teutonic house of hansa’ on the left side and, ‘the holy roman empire” on the right. It’s part of a group of etches dating from the late nineteenth century, which is the beginning of the workers movements, and also the period just prior to the period of photomechanical reproductions. So they are all late steel-engraving reproductions. These double sheeted pages from the British illustrated press (DM01-DM02-DM03) have an interesting scale, they are tabloid-sized, together they make for a good presentation because of their intermediate scale. The scale is important for all the objects, the smallest is the miniature postage stamp (DM28), the miniature quality of the depiction of a vast space (harbour, sea) is very important throughout the Dockers Museum.
